Hunted (Riley Cray) Read Online Free PDF

some video game I’d never heard of.
    They didn’t notice me at first, engrossed in their argument of whether Alliance or Horde was better, whatever the hell that meant. I knew it the instant their hindbrains kicked in, that last vestige of the days when man had the sense to be wary of the things that lived in the darkness, when they weren’t at the top of the food chain. The store clerk’s eyes grew wide and his words trailed off into nothingness when he spotted me.
    It only took a moment for his human arrogance to take over, smothering the voice in the back of his mind that rightly told him he should be afraid.
    “Hey man, you can’t shift in public. You know it’s against the law.”
    I cared nothing for human laws, they held no power over me. Dismissing his words as the verbal garbage they were, I continued forward, saliva flooding my mouth as I imagined how good their flesh would taste.
    “Come on, man. Don’t make me call the cops. I really don’t want to deal with all that paperwork,” he said, his voice still dripping with superiority and ignorance.
    What useless sacks of piss and shit these humans are.
    When I didn’t respond, the pimple-faced moron joined in. “Dude, don’t be an idiot. You know the cops will just haul your ass off to jail if they catch you.”
    They’re not going to catch me. No one can stop me now, not even her.
    The scent of fear pulsed against my sensitive nose, smelling both sour and sickly sweet, when they realized how much trouble they were truly in. The flabby one, smelling of tomato sauce and cheese, was the first to run, the soles of his sneakers squeaking on the grimy flooring as they fought for purchase. For one comical moment he appeared to run in place, his momentum throwing him off balance, his nicotine stained fingers pawing at the ground. And then he shot through the door, the electronic chime ringing out at his passage. It chimed again a moment later when the clerk vaulted over the counter and ran after him, his feet pounding on the cracked asphalt of the parking lot.
    My lips curled back in a wide grin as I watched them go, their frantic breaths steaming in the cold air.
    How nice of them to give me a little sport. It’s been far too long since I was able to stretch my legs.
    Letting them get a little further, I launched into motion, my long strides eating up the distance between us with ease. The first one went down easily, his body as soft and unresisting as the traces of pizza dough stuck to his shirt. He crumpled beneath me without even a flicker of defiance, and disappointment welled up inside me. His blood spurted hot in my mouth but it couldn’t satisfy my thirst, the ease of the hunt souring the taste of him.
    Leaving his pale and chubby body, I turned my attention on the other one. His pounding steps slowed as he approached a parked car across the parking lot, the jingle of keys in his shaking hand like music to my ears.
    My body sang with the intoxicating thrill of the chase and my lips pulled back in an excited grin. Raising my nose to the sky I let a piercing howl flow out of my throat, signaling the beginning of the hunt. This one would be more of a challenge. He would help to sate the burning thirst in my throat. My panting breaths echoed in my ears as I ran towards him, cutting a path between the gas pumps to reach him.
    The clatter of my claws on the asphalt made him turn to face me as if in slow motion, eyes growing wide. His keys fell from fingers frozen with fear, tinkling as they struck the ground. Leaving the keys where they lay at his feet he bolted, long legs pumping furiously as he tried to out distance me. I wanted to howl my jubilation as I closed in on him.
    His fingers clawed uselessly at the snow covered ground as he struggled up a steep incline, kicking clods of frozen dirt and rocks at me.
    “Oh God!” he cried out, tears thickening his voice. “God, no!”
    Your God has no place here, I wanted to tell him, but the wolf’s vocal